Can I Just Say...i Hate Bake Even Strips!

argh. i just had to get that off my chest. everytime i bake with them, yes, the tops are better off, but the sides and bottoms never brown fully. i suppose i'm just whining. i've baked 3 tiers of a wedding cake tonight and am having the "worst" luck. to top it off, i was at the end of the can of non stick baking spray and so it didnt work that well- the sides and bottoms are sticking to the pan! ok- thought that whining would make me feel better, and i suppose in an odd way, i do, but it still stinks.

Gosh, I think it's a GOOD thing that my white cake doesn't turn that yucky, looks-like-it's-overcooked, brown color. I LIKE the nice, white, golden shade of perfection that doesn't look like a line of poopy down the middle of my wedding cakes!

to tell you the truth (dont anyone take offense), I cant tell the difference; I used to use them but I have a stack of flower nails and those are soo much easier; maybe its multiple flower nails? the pans? lower oven temp? or a combination not sure but I get the same results with or without....

melysa I hate them too! I never used them for 26 years with no problems then because I heard so much praise on CC I bought a set, talk about being swayed by peer pressure They are hard to handle, I burned my fingertips when I took them off, I will probably put them in the goodwill box that I take once a month. If it ain't broke don't fix it!

Gosh, I think it's a GOOD thing that my white cake doesn't turn that yucky, looks-like-it's-overcooked, brown color. I LIKE the nice, white, golden shade of perfection that doesn't look like a line of poopy down the middle of my wedding cakes!

Gosh, I think it's a GOOD thing that my white cake doesn't turn that yucky, looks-like-it's-overcooked, brown color. I LIKE the nice, white, golden shade of perfection that doesn't look like a line of poopy down the middle of my wedding cakes!

Yep! No browning of the cakes for me!

Me too! I like how the brown tastes on bundt cake or muffins, but for cakes I will ice, I prefer barely-pale-golden. I use bake-even strips for every cake I put in the oven. In fact in 20 years, I have thrown a few bake even strips away when they finally fell apart from constant use.

poop debi ?!?!?!?!?!? i'm too tired and frustrated to laugh even though that was kind of funny. not brown- just firm and lightly golden, basically not MUSH that sticks to the pan. if i let it go longer, the top is dark dark dark.

i just did another tier without the strips and aaaah, its perfect. not much of a dome either.

i'm tired. 4 more cakes to go, and decorating a grooms cake tonight so i can do the wedding cake tomorrow. the grooms cake is a vintage nintendo game console with controllers. its already fondanted (is that a word? haha) just needs lots of detail.

Well for hundreds of years, I haven't used them but have thought seriously about starting to use them as I am really tired of throwing away the cake bumps. That is alot of cake in the trash and NO , I don't make cake balls. Don't need anything else to do.So are they recommended or 86'ed??

I went 20 years without discovering this masterful marvels of technology and wondered how the heck I ever did a cake before!

I will not bake a cake without a baking strip on the pan. I don't need flower nails or baking cores. Just the strips.

Guess that makes me a "stripper", too!

(By the way, in the TMI column, I actually did that once on a dance floor! Of course I was a cute, perky, sexy, lousy 118 lbs during the disco days! I got down to my body suit and 4" heels and never bought a drink the rest of the night! It was some guys birthday and the song was the "Noxema" ("take it off ... take it ALL off!") song. Just when you think you've heard it all from me, huh? !)

(By the way, in the TMI column, I actually did that once on a dance floor! Of course I was a cute, perky, sexy, lousy 118 lbs during the disco days! I got down to my body suit and 4" heels and never bought a drink the rest of the night! It was some guys birthday and the song was the "Noxema" ("take it off ... take it ALL off!") song. Just when you think you've heard it all from me, huh? !)

Add me to the TMI list as well...My...umm...em-bare-ass-(mo)ment was to the tune of "Lady Marmalade" (voulez vous coucher avec moi, c'est soir?...struttin' her stuff down in old New Orleans)

I don't even use grease anymore; I line my pans with parchment paper and collar the sides. That may change as I start purchasing 3" deep pans, but parchment paper collars / bake even strips are the only way to get decent height on my round/square cakes at the moment.

i like using the heavy duty pans, seems like i dont need much of anything with those. no stips, no nail, no dome, no nothin'.

oh well. unfortunately on this cake, i dont have a full set of the pans so i'll make do.

done baking... aaaah

it took me a while to realize this, but its true. with the heavy duty magic line pans i NEVER have domes. its only when i use the cheapy wilton pans that they dome. and then they dome bad. it was after i realized this that i read somewhere (sorry can't remember where) that the heavy pans get rid of doming. now i have to get all of my sizes in magic line, im still half wilton.

I have not had any problems with the bake even strips. I do make my own pan coat:1 cup oil (liquid)1 cup shortening (solid)1 cup flour (plain not self-rising)Mix all together in KA until combined and keep in a covered container the fridge. I use a pastry brush to spread it in my cake pans.Happy Baking and Decorating

I'm a sort of stripper i think! I use strips of soaked newspaper round the outside of my tins and it makes so much difference! But my kids are disappointed that they don't get to eat so many domes now..........

I love my bake-even strips. I've got some that I've had for 17 1/2 years that I think have about baked their last cakes. If I ever forget to put one on, I'm frustrated when I have to start leveling then.

I put my strippers in a bowl of cold water, squeeze the air out, and then put a small plate on top to keep them under the water. When I take them out, I squeeze out the water and attach. It works really well for large cakes that have a longer baking time.

I need to get some new 9" rounds so I think I'll try out the Magic Line pans and see how they work.

(By the way, in the TMI column, I actually did that once on a dance floor! Of course I was a cute, perky, sexy, lousy 118 lbs during the disco days! I got down to my body suit and 4" heels and never bought a drink the rest of the night! It was some guys birthday and the song was the "Noxema" ("take it off ... take it ALL off!") song. Just when you think you've heard it all from me, huh? !)

Add me to the TMI list as well...My...umm...em-bare-ass-(mo)ment was to the tune of "Lady Marmalade" (voulez vous coucher avec moi, c'est soir?...struttin' her stuff down in old New Orleans)

We apparently were all hot stuff back in the day...who knew!

Heck, I used to be a stripper... I made waaaaay more money dancing than I do making cakes!!! Oh well....too much BS to deal with. Cakes are more long term.

Oh, and about the baking strips. I use them regularly and my cakes come out very level. Now the whole flower nail thing I don't really get...

Sorry I'm jumping in late here but I was having the same problem. Finally bought an oven thermometer, didn't think I needed it the oven is still kinda new. I found out my oven was running about 25 degrees lower than I would set it. So when I would set my oven at 325 it was barely reaching 300. The baking strips were making it take even longer for any heat to reach the batter. AGHHHH! No wonder I was having all those problems.

Biya, I have oven problems too! I tried baking brownies and blondies and they were done around the edges but very rawish/over moist in the middle. My cakes are always more done on the edges. How much did the oven thermometer cost? My oven runs hot, so therefore, I'm always underbaking to try to avoid burning! I hate playing this stupid game!

melysa I hate them too! I never used them for 26 years with no problems then because I heard so much praise on CC I bought a set, talk about being swayed by peer pressure They are hard to handle, I burned my fingertips when I took them off, I will probably put them in the goodwill box that I take once a month. If it ain't broke don't fix it!

Jibbies

Oh, send them to me, I love using mine and only have problems with my cakes when I don't use them.